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Experience

No matter the platform, Marco desires to always use his prestige to influence the youth, leaders, achievers, and visionaries. Marco’s techniques and teaching style come from experience. Born and raised in Jackson, South Carolina by his grandparents and aunt, he faced many of the same childhood, personal, financial, and spiritual challenges his audiences have endured, Marco “keeps it real” but with compassion. He knows what looks good on the outward appearance but he also knows what can occur spiritually on the inside. Because he has been there, he speaks to the intangibles that finally connect the dots between theory and implementation. He uses elements of his personal journey from childhood struggles, emotional and spiritual abuse, disappointments, failure, and embarrassment to becoming a successful and passionate speaker, to remind his audiences to aim high, love, forgive, deal with the ugly truths of our lives, work hard, reject excuses, and most of all to be real about everything. Marco faced much pain in his childhood, being raised by his grandparents and aunt, Marco learned how to endure pain at a young age. When he was ten years old, both his mother and father walked out of his life, leaving his aunt to raise him and his other two siblings. Marco learned young that nothing tangible is permanent, but love is everlasting. He identified with the pain of having to grow up without his parents, but decided that the pain would not define him, but rather, would be his ammunition to achieve greatness and the impossible in life. Marco believed solemnly in taking the bad and making the best.

Marco always had a special relationship and desire for God, and was very expressive in his faith. Marco’s passion for helping people perform at their best stems from the agony that he felt when he both his parents walked out of his life at the age of 10. Attempting to mask the pain, he thought about giving into peer pressure and the low expectations that surround many African-American men, however, Marco’s spirit wouldn’t allow him to accept defeat, but rather, he accepted triumph, he decided that becoming a famous gospel singer and preacher was what he would set out to do with his life. At the age of 17, Marco founded and directed the largest community choir (approx… 125 members at one time) in his hometown. The choir became the leadership training that Marco would one day lean on as an effective spiritual leader.

All of Marco’s childhood experiences led him to join and dedicate his life to the vocation of the preaching ministry where at the age of 19 he was licensed as a minister, and later ordained to pastor at the age of 21. Marco was introduced to television very young. A local station in his hometown aired a weekly gospel syndicated show and Marco becomes one of the faces of the show. He would announce the local PSA’s for the community in which this exposure struck his interest in television. One night during a taping of the newscast, Marco approached one of the anchor’s and asked how could get the job doing what they do, he was instructed to attend college and obtain a degree in television and then he could direct me toward employment. Refusing to settle for life’s second best, he made a decision, he took the advice of the anchor and decided to attend and complete college. Marco received a lot of push back from family and friends because he had begun a platform in his community as a young preacher, however, he wanted to learn who he was, and in order to do that he knew he needed to learn more.

During his teenage years, Marco always worked hard; he had many jobs. One day, while working the late night shift at a mill plant, he remembered the words of an older cousin who told him that “If you do not get up and do something with your life, then you will end up becoming what you hate the most.” Marco took heed to those words and the Lord spoke to him and told him to attend college and leave because it was time to learn; it was time for his next level. Marco packed up his things, and jumped in the car with his older brother and went off to college.

He graduated college in June 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Benedict College in Columbia, SC. After undergraduate college, Marco relocated to Washington, DC where he attended Howard University School of Divinity. While studying to obtain his masters, he needed employment so Marco took a job as a teacher. Much to his knowledge this career would become a passion for him. In May 2006, Marco earned a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies. Shortly after receiving his master’s degree from Howard University, Marco had the opportunity to pursue his career as a news reporter, or to go after his passion in hopes of becoming an inspirational talk show host; instead Marco decided to become a fulltime educator and give back to the youth. This would allow him the chance to mentor his own struggles and experiences; Marco knew that education was his way out of the box of life, so what better way to guide the youth, than to educate them. Marco was led to teach middle and high school where he could begin and live his mission to inspire the youth to connect with their potential and achieve the success they deserve. He used his classroom as his pulpit and sanctuary. For years, Marco watched students come and go and it never seemed like he was doing enough. Although he was teaching and giving back daily, something seemed to be missing. Marco desired more than anything to share his faith and experiences with the world, however, as a teacher in the public charter school system, there was only so much of faith and beliefs that he could share. This was not something that Marco could pardon with. It was time to once share the good news with the world, so after nine years of teaching inner city, Marco decided that it was time to go after his own dreams and passion. He decided to take his classroom to a higher platform, where he would rejoin the preaching and speaking vocation. Marco challenged his students to think, pray, and work hard, but most importantly, to use the pain as ammunition to overcome and achieve greatness.

“Our youth deserves a fresh start in life, and it is our job in the world to make certain that they get one. Besides, if we raise better teens as a community, then we will have better adults”